The Whole Hog

A Chef’s Seminar on Butchering and Cured Meats

Friday, March 12 – Sunday, March 14, 2010

Learn how to boost your restaurant’s quality and profitability by buying whole animals and using them from nose to tail. Starting with an organically raised hog carcass, chef Adam Sappington, former executive chef at the James Beard Award-winning Wildwood, shows exactly how he butchers the meat, divides it into fresh cuts, makes bacon, sausages and other cured preparations, and integrates every scrap into the menu at his restaurant, The Country Cat, in Portland, Oregon, praised by Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines.

Through hands-on sessions and demonstrations, you learn how this culinary craft will add creativity to your menu and serve as a marketing boost for your  restaurant. It’s profitable, too: Adam reveals his menu planning, costs and pricing strategies. Guided tastings of some of the world’s top cured meats show how professionals judge quality and flavor, giving you something to aim for in your own cooking.

Specifically designed for restaurant professionals, topics include:

• butchering and using fresh cuts
• making sausage, bacon and other cured meats
• sourcing directly from farmers and ranchers
• selecting healthy, humanely raised animals
• figuring costs and menu prices
• tasting benchmark pork products from around the world
• creating publicity buzz with your butchering program

The seminar begins on Friday, March 12, 2010, with dinner at Adam’s acclaimed restaurant, The Country Cat. You will meet Adam and your fellow students and taste the products you’ll be making during the next two days. The rest of the sessions meet in the kitchen classrooms at the Oregon Culinary Institute, near downtown Portland. Doors open for coffee and conversation at 8:30 am on Saturday and Sunday, and class begins at 9 am and adjourns around 5 pm.

Registration and Fine Print

Regular tuition is $1895 per person for this professional-level class. To qualify for the $1645 early enrollment discount tuition, you must be enrolled and paid in full by February 15, 2010.

Tuition includes:

• all instruction
• dinner Friday night at The Country Cat
• lunch Saturday and Sunday
• morning coffee, drinks and snacks on Saturday and Sunday
• all tastings
• all materials

Each participant must bring three knives: a flexible 6-inch boning knife, an 8-  to 10-inch chef’s knife, and a cleaver or scimitar. If you do not own these knives, we can arrange for you to buy a high-quality set and a knife roll at our cost. Ask us for details.

Participants from outside the Portland area can contact us for help with arranging hotel accommodations.

A deposit of $495 is required for registration, and is non-transferable. Payment in full for discount tuition of  $1645 is due by February 15, 2010. Payment in full for regular tuition of $1895 is required for registrations from February 15, 2010. We accept VISA, Mastercard and Discover, and checks.

For questions or to register, please contact Food by Hand Seminars director Heidi Yorkshire by email at foodbyhand@gmail.com or by phone at 503-335-3155. We want to communicate directly with every potential participant to make sure that the seminar meets their needs, interests and expectations.

Cancellations: Notification must be made in writing by mail, fax or email, and received by Food by Hand Seminars LLC by February 1, 2010. Through February 1, 2010, all payments will be refunded in case of student cancellation minus a $100 administrative fee. After February 1, 2010, there will be no refunds in case of student cancellation. Food by Hand Seminars LLC  reserves the right not to refund.

Food by Hand Seminars LLC reserves the right to cancel the course if a minimum enrollment is not met. In that case, all payments will be refunded in full. A final decision on whether the course will take place will be made no later than February 15, 2010. Food by Hand Seminars LLC is not responsible for any non-refundable travel expenses incurred by individual students.